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Topic: New owner questions (Read 1246 times)

I'm new around these parts but have recently purchased my first ever Jazz.

It's a 1.3 SE 5dr CVT from early 2016. I was formerly a very happy Civic owner, and as that car gave me 10 years of hardly any trouble, I wanted another Honda and the Jazz was a good price second hand.

First impressions are really positive. It's a fun little car, and isn't actually as small as I thought it would be. I'm 6'3 and the driver's seat has plenty of room for my long legs. Do I miss anything from the Civic? The digital speedometer and driver-leg cushion, but other than that the Jazz now feels like home and I much prefer the cheaper running costs. The road tax refund from my Civic will cover the Jazz tax for a few years!

I do however have a few new-owner questions. I've found answers for some of these by searching the forum, but I'm nonetheless asking them again in case any new information has become available. Here goes:

1) I used to have the headlights set to auto at all times in the Civic and it worked great, but on the Jazz I'm finding it a bit more tricky. The auto headlights work well, but in the darkest conditions the automatic full beams are a bit hit-or-miss. Sometimes they work great, but then sometimes they don't see cars on the other side of the motorway. Similarly, the other day I was stuck behind a tractor that had flashing yellow lights on top but no red lights on the back - the Jazz couldn't 'see' it and so my full beams were on.- Is there a way to have auto headlights turned on with auto full beam turned off?- With auto full beams turned on, is there a quick way to manually trigger the beams on/off?Shame there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust the sensitivity of the full beams. I wonder if the system would work better if it waited for a few seconds of darkness before turning them on?

2) The warning message on the infotainment screen - is there still no way to turn this off or get it to auto accept after so many minutes of driving? I find that if I forget to turn it off before starting my journey it is quite dangerous doing so while on the move.

3) Is there no official/easy way to install other apps on the infotainment system? Google Maps and Spotify spring to mind as potentially useful options.

4) Is there any downside to leaving the parking sensors turned on at all times? If the answer is no, is there any way to turn off the green LED on the parking sensor? I'm sure I'll get used to it but I'm finding it a bit distracting at the moment.

5) On my Civic I used to like the fact that the dash told me how long I'd been driving. I can't seem to find this on the Jazz, am I missing something? I have the info display next to the speedometer set to show the speedlimit and range, but it would be nice to have time travelled on there too.

6) The car is going for its annual service in a few days' time. Is there anything I should ask for that may otherwise be missed - software updates, known faults etc?

1) I used to have the headlights set to auto at all times in the Civic and it worked great, but on the Jazz I'm finding it a bit more tricky. The auto headlights work well, but in the darkest conditions the automatic full beams are a bit hit-or-miss. Sometimes they work great, but then sometimes they don't see cars on the other side of the motorway. Similarly, the other day I was stuck behind a tractor that had flashing yellow lights on top but no red lights on the back - the Jazz couldn't 'see' it and so my full beams were on.- Is there a way to have auto headlights turned on with auto full beam turned off?- With auto full beams turned on, is there a quick way to manually trigger the beams on/off?Shame there doesn't seem to be a way to adjust the sensitivity of the full beams. I wonder if the system would work better if it waited for a few seconds of darkness before turning them on?

I can't say I've had issues with the auto dipping. You can always put on to full beam or dip in the same way as any other car. If you hold the stick towards you (Flash) for 5 seconds or longer, then it will switch between manual and automatic

2) The warning message on the infotainment screen - is there still no way to turn this off or get it to auto accept after so many minutes of driving? I find that if I forget to turn it off before starting my journey it is quite dangerous doing so while on the move.

4) Is there any downside to leaving the parking sensors turned on at all times? If the answer is no, is there any way to turn off the green LED on the parking sensor? I'm sure I'll get used to it but I'm finding it a bit distracting at the moment.

I don't find any downside, mine have been on for the last two years. You will just have to get used to the LED, or put some tape over it.

5) On my Civic I used to like the fact that the dash told me how long I'd been driving. I can't seem to find this on the Jazz, am I missing something? I have the info display next to the speedometer set to show the speedlimit and range, but it would be nice to have time travelled on there too.

My headlights are set to Auto all the time, since the Off position is spring loaded to Auto.The only problem that I find is they tend to come on, when not really required, eg under trees on a sunny day!There is no auto position for main beam, this is controlled, like any other car, by push/pulling the headlight control, as required.

The warning message - this is the bane of my life, in my view totally unnecessary and something dreamed up by the Elf & Safety boys. Like you say it can be dangerous to cancel it whilst on the move. It only wants a simple software mod to get rid of it but<<<<<<<<.

There are several other posts on the forum relating to the installation of Apps, suggest you check them out.

My parking sensors are on all the time and of course go berserk when I drive into my garage, but i live with it.The green light is far enough away from my line of sight to not bother me.

The RH steering wheel control will cycle through the various screens on the dash, not sure about journey time though. I note there are two 'times' listed, currently showing 6h 20m and 99h 59m, not exactly sure what they actually mean, unless it's the time taken to cover the miles also shown.

I've found the auto main beam to be pretty good myself - I've actually listed it elsewhere as one of the things Honda got right (unlike the auto wipers which seem to have got worse). They are occasionally a bit slow to spot an oncoming car on a bend at the bottom of a hill on my commute but mostly they seem fine. Although I have noticed in recent mornings they have seemed a bit dodgy. I'm not really sure why - they seem to cope fine in the opposite direction.

My main gripe about the stupid warning message is that if you ignore it you lose your clock. Or at least you're left with the time displayed very dimly in the top right and if you switch off cruise control it will appear in the information display on the dash. It would have been far more sensible for the warning message to be replaced with a full size clock if ignored.

As for (4) I've noticed this occasionally but luckily my seating position means it's mostly blocked. I can well imagine how annoying it would be for someone whose seating position didn't. I leave it on and am greeted by all the bleeps and warbles the car can make when I enter or leave my garage

There is no auto position for main beam, this is controlled, like any other car, by push/pulling the headlight control, as required.

I think you are mistaken, MK3 Jazz models from the SE up have auto main beam. The "on" indicator is a green headlamp symbol containing a letter "A" at the top left of the instrument cluster. It can be switched on and off by holding the dip / main switch to the main beam flash position for five seconds, it is on by default when the car is started but only illuminates when the lights are on and auto main beam is on. I find the auto main beam works well, I live in a semi rural area and it is well used at this time of year.

I can't say I've had issues with the auto dipping. You can always put on to full beam or dip in the same way as any other car. If you hold the stick towards you (Flash) for 5 seconds or longer, then it will switch between manual and automatic.

That is really helpful to know, will try it out next time I'm driving in the dark.

I did try flipping through those screens but don't remember seeing a current journey duration. Will have another look in case I missed it.

Will also be asking the garage to apply any relevant software updates. Have to say the service from Honda is always really good, we live out in the sticks and the garage had no qualms about picking up our car and dropping it back off after the service is done.

Just thought of one more question:

7) When I park up in the garage, the engine turns off due to auto stop/start, but then starts up again when I shift the auto gearbox from D to P. Is that normal behaviour? Seems a waste to start the car back up when I'm parked, but I suppose I could turn the engine off before putting the car in P?

Also noticed a few threads about people stating auto stop/start wasn't working at all in their car. It's worth pointing out that it didn't appear to be functioning in my car to begin with, but now that I've done a few long motorway journeys the battery appears to have been topped up and auto stop/start is working a treat. It will sometimes not kick in if it is really cold but usually gets going again once the car is warmed up.

I don't know if journey time is an option as I rarely use that screen, but there is a lot of data in the info section of the main screen (once you have switched off the annoying " If you crash the car while trying to get this to work it's your fault" message. :-)

I can't say I've had issues with the auto dipping. You can always put on to full beam or dip in the same way as any other car. If you hold the stick towards you (Flash) for 5 seconds or longer, then it will switch between manual and automatic.

That is really helpful to know, will try it out next time I'm driving in the dark.

I did try flipping through those screens but don't remember seeing a current journey duration. Will have another look in case I missed it.

It's there alright. I had to go back home at lunchtime and while waiting for the officepark gate to slide open I looked at the options. There is journey duration based on when you last reset each trip (A or B) and also average speed. It's sobering to think that since I last filled up - causing my trip A to reset - I have driven 120 miles on mostly rural roads with perhaps 20 of those being urban and my average speed is 27mph :-/

Couple of things to watch out for with the auto-dipping:1. If Iím dipping the lights manually, I prefer to dip just before another car appears, as judged from the ďloomĒ of the other carís lights; the auto system does it just after the lights have actually appeared. So youíre constantly blinding/annoying the other drivers. Thatís a particular issue if youíre following another car on a windy road, the lights are constantly flashing up and down as the preceding car appears and disappears. In those circumstances I switch the auto system off.2. If youíre ever unlucky enough to experience condensation on the screen inside the sensor pod (as a couple of us have), the auto-dipping is one of the things that stops working, along with the lane departure warning.

Also noticed a few threads about people stating auto stop/start wasn't working at all in their car. It's worth pointing out that it didn't appear to be functioning in my car to begin with, but now that I've done a few long motorway journeys the battery appears to have been topped up and auto stop/start is working a treat. It will sometimes not kick in if it is really cold but usually gets going again once the car is warmed up.

Thereís a whole raft of circumstances in which the auto-stop doesnít work, have a look in the handbook. Moreover, the dashboard indication isnít always truthful about why it isnít working, for example if you have the ventilation set to the screen demist setting you get an indication about A/C, which isnít relevant; and in really cold weather the battery gets so cold that the sensor detects a low battery voltage and reports that as the reason when thereís actually nothing wrong with the battery.

7) When I park up in the garage, the engine turns off due to auto stop/start, but then starts up again when I shift the auto gearbox from D to P. Is that normal behaviour? Seems a waste to start the car back up when I'm parked, but I suppose I could turn the engine off before putting the car in P?

Yes, it is normal. On your model you can only turn the engine off if the lever is in P unless you use the emergency stop procedure (holding the button in for several seconds).

Actually the way idle stop is handled with the CVT version is another bugbear of mine. The engine will always restart if you take your foot of the brake pedal. Even if 'N' is currently selected and the handbrake applied. Basically it means that if you want idle stop to do what it should you have to keep your foot brake depressed all the time you're stationary. I used to dislike motorists that did that as I was brought up on a manual and taught to engage the handbrake, select neutral and then release the brake pedal. But now I've had to join the massed ranks of drivers dazzling the poor sods behind them because the alternative is to render idle stop useless.

For what it's worth it isn't just Honda doing this. It seems to be common amongst all automatics with the idle stop feature.

And by the way: Even if you have the brake pedal pressed if you move the gear lever out of neutral or turn the steering wheel the engine will restart.

2. If youíre ever unlucky enough to experience condensation on the screen inside the sensor pod (as a couple of us have), the auto-dipping is one of the things that stops working, along with the lane departure warning.

In my case it triggers my wipers as well. I don't know about the lane departure warning as I keep that switched off.

It's good car and I'm sure the OP will enjoy it as much all of us do. However unlike the previous models (I've owned both a Mk2 and a Mk1 Sport) it has a number of niggling issues and implementation rough edges that some of us find it hard to completely overlook. Possibly I've just been spoilt by what seemed like perfection from the Mk1 and Mk2.

Quote from Colin S."I can't say I've had issues with the auto dipping. You can always put on to full beam or dip in the same way as any other car. If you hold the stick towards you (Flash) for 5 seconds or longer, then it will switch between manual and automatic"

I never knew this, despite driving the car for for 20000 miles over two years. I too have no complaint about the auto dipping, but I have found it irritating that it stopped working if I ever needed to over-ride it. Clearly, I should have read p 174 of the manual before now. Thanks!

I don't like using main beam or auto main beam. If main beam is on and you are traveling at a speed suitable for the distance you can see to be clear, then a car comes the other way and you come off main beam, you are now traveling at a speed higher than the distance you can see to be clear, so need to slow down or hope for the best, until the car passes and you can go on main beam again.

I think you can cancel the auto main beam by manually putting it on and off as others have said but in my experience it is less than 5 seconds.